News and events

Celebrating 40 Years of Protecting Artists’ Rights

DACS is turning 40 this year and to celebrate, throughout 2024 we will publish a series of essays and interviews under the banner of 40 Years of Protecting Artists’ Rights.

• 31 January 2024

How does Payback help charities and artists?

A blog by Garry Hunter, Founder of Fitzrovia Noir, on the Payback scheme

• 23 January 2024

Why it’s important to protect artistic copyright

Ella Murtha is the daughter of the late renowned British photographer Tish Murtha, best known for documenting the lives of marginalised communities and working-class life from the inside in the North-East of England. In this blog, Ella Murtha discusses the importance of protecting her mother's copyright and how DACS helped her resolve an unauthorised use of Tish's work.

• 28 July 2023

What can artists do to reduce their environmental footprint?

It's been one year since DACS joined the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) community, working towards finding collaborative solutions for greater climate security and equality.

• 23 May 2023

Artist's Spaces: Innocence Lost - Johnnie Shand Kydd on photographing the YBAs in the 1990s

Honest and unfiltered, Johnnie Shand Kydd’s photographs of the YBAs on their trajectory to success in the 1990s take you back to a time before the art world made headlines. Artimage speaks to the photographer to find out what makes these images so special.

• 8 November 2022

Artist's Spaces: Nicholas Sinclair on photographing artists' studios

Nicholas Sinclair has been photographing British artists in their studios from the 1990s to the present day. The impeccably composed portraits offer a glimpse into the work and lives of the individuals behind today's greatest modern masterpieces. We talked in-depth to the photographer about his portraits, which are available to license through Artimage.

• 7 November 2022

Capturing the iconic London 2012 Olympic Games, by Simon Roberts

This week marks 10 years since the Olympics games came to London. In one of the greatest sporting spectacles of modern times, the now iconic games saw 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participated across London and the wider United Kingdom. Artist Simon Roberts was there to capture this moment, having been granted unique photographic access by The International Olympic Committee to create an alternative, artistic take focusing on the cultural, economic, and political vistas that are often overlooked in the excitement of the events.

• 27 July 2022

Artist Narratives: Penny Slinger - I SPEAK WHAT I SEE

Penny Slinger uses a variety of media including photography, film, paint and photo-montage to explore the human journey through life and time. Perhaps best known for her surrealist interpretations of the female, Slinger uses her own experiences to look at connections between eroticism, mysticism, feminism and art. DACS selected Slinger’s I Speak What I See, from her Mouthpieces series to lead our Artists Narratives series. Here Penny shares the story behind her seminal series. Created in the early 70s, the series still profoundly resonates today.

• 12 July 2022

We meet Senegalese artist and Artist's Resale Right ambassador, Laye Ka

In May, DACS had the privilege of attending the Dakar Biennale and meeting Senegalese artist Laye Ka who is the recipient of the inaugural Ousmane Sow Artist’s Resale Right Award.

• 7 July 2022

Art + Environment: True North – The story behind the image

In 2006, photographer Gautier Deblonde joined a collective of artists and writers on a trip to Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The trip was organised by Cape Farewell, and aimed to bring creative voices together to highlight the growing climate emergency. The images created on this trip launched a new body of work True North, an ongoing series that Deblonde has developed with multiple return trips to the island since, in which he is exploring the changing landscape, the melting glaciers and collaborating with climate scientists who live and work in the area. DACS selected one of these striking images to lead our Art + Environment series. Here Gautier shares the story behind the project.

• 24 May 2022

Art + Environment - Nordic Alliance of Artist’ Residencies on Climate Action (NAARCA)

NAARCA is a collaboration between seven Nordic residencies, which focuses on the climate emergency. The Alliance is co-led by Cove Park (Cove, Scotland) and Saari Residence (Mietoinen, Finland) and includes residencies Arctic Culture Lab (Ilulissat, Greenland), Art Hub Copenhagen (Copenhagen, Denmark), Artica Svalbard (Svalbard, Norway), Baltic Art Center (Visby, Sweden) and Skaftfell Center for Visual Art (Seyðisfjörður, Iceland).

• 9 May 2022

Art + Environment - How can artists change the world? Richard Demarco and Joseph Beuys’ responses to the climate crisis

Scottish artist Richard Demarco had a long artistic partnership with German artist Joseph Beuys, using their work to explore their shared values and interest in climate justice. Here, Demarco explains in his own words how his and Beuys’ political and cultural activity has engaged with the issues of climate change and ecology over time.

• 22 April 2022